Approaches used in Canadian academic institutions to keep nursing students safe during clinical placements: a systematic review protocol of policy and expert opinion.

OBJECTIVE: This review will synthesize the available evidence on approaches used by Canadian academic institutions to keep nursing students safe during clinical placements. INTRODUCTION: The safety of health care workers is a global priority, with growing concern for pre-licensure students. Nursing students face heightened physical, psychological, and professional risks as they provide direct, sustained patient care within complex clinical environments. Academic institutions play a critical role in safeguarding students by creating protective learning environments. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The phenomenon of interest is approaches used by academic institutions to promote nursing student safety during clinical placements. The population is Canadian academic institutions delivering pre-licensure nursing programs leading to a registered nurse designation, across all provinces and territories. Eligible sources may include policies, directives, guidelines, curriculum documents, clinical requirements, and other text-based materials produced by accredited nursing programs, regulatory bodies, occupational health and safety organizations, and recognized experts in nursing education or student safety. METHODS: This review will follow JBI methodology for systematic reviews of textual evidence: narrative, opinion, or policy. The review will evaluate the feasibility of using a large language model (Claude AI) to support gray literature retrieval by comparing its performance with the Google search strategy on a sample of nursing education programs. Two independent reviewers will screen records, extract data, and critically appraise eligible sources using JBI critical appraisal tools for text and opinion evidence. The findings will be synthesized using JBI meta-aggregation for textual evidence and the results will be presented in both tabular and diagrammatic formats. REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD420251268176.